Fisheating Creek - 2013 Spring

The name Fisheating Creek is derived from the Creek Thlothlopopka-hatchee meaning "the creek where fish are eaten." Fisheating Creek is a stream that flows into Lake Okeechobee in Florida. It is the only remaining free-flowing water course feeding into the lake, and the second-largest natural source for the lake. Most of the land surrounding the stream is either publicly owned or under conservation easements restricting development. The lower part of the stream remains in a largely natural state, and efforts are underway to restore the upper part of the stream to a more natural state. Fisheating Creek flows through a landscape of prairies, both dry and wet, flatwoods, freshwater marshes, hammocks, bottomland forests, and floodplain swamps. Human activity has introduced improved pastures, and eucalyptus and pine plantations. In 1842 Fisheating Creek was described as a large stream in the dry season, varying in width from a river to a brook, and very "tortuous". Lake Okeechobee has been artificially maintained at a lower level than prevailed before the 20th century, with the result that much of Cowbone Marsh has been drained and converted to agricultural land. Lake Okeechobee has been almost completely enclosed by the Herbert Hoover Dike. The only gap in the dike is at Fisheating Creek, where the dike turns inland and parallels the stream on both sides for several miles, leaving Fisheating Creek as the only remaining free-flowing tributary of Lake Okeechobee.[